The multimedia circus. (annual Electronic Entertainment Expo)

In its third year, [E.sup.3] has become the show for introducing new titles

Some of our readers will remember the wonderful old film promotions of the 1940s and 1950s that promised "spectacular settings", "passion unleashed," "terror unknown" and "thrills of the heroic." The promotional material PW has sifted through for the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo ([E.sup.3]) May 16-18 in the Los Angeles Convention Center offered similar hyperbole, evidence not so much of overhyping as genuine excitement about a new and constantly ground-breaking field. For our readers, we have toned it down bit, in the interest of space and objectivity, but we do recommend, for those interested in the unadulterated force of multimedia promotion, a trip to [E.sup.3]. Some of these products you will see at ABA, many you won't. And many of the new products at [E.sup.3] are still "embargoed" at our press time. "We save our splash for the show," says Linda Duttenhaver at Davidson. "And we want to preserve equity across all the publications, so weak all the magazines to wait until the week of the show." PW has given our readers a month's jump this year, to encourage booksellers to make plans to attend the show. [E.sup.3] has in three short years risen to the top as the indisputable debutante event for entertainment software in this country. There will be over 300 exhibitors, the biggest names in the biz. Many of these companies will not go to an), other shows this year. Many of their products will be games , but should not be immediately discredited as frivolous. Games sell, and many of them have an educational aspect. As reported by PW last year, the multimedia mentality of [E.sup.3] contrasts sharply with the relatively cerebral ABA a month later, but the "merger" of multimedia with book content is evident, even in the world of games. Among software publishers and wholesalers we spoke with, [E.sup.3] is an opportunity not to be missed.

"This is the show of the year," says Dennis Rosenberg of RandomSoft, the new software distribution company formed by Random House specifically to reach those markets beyond the conventional book trade. "Just within the trade show business, CES and Comdex have now been outdistanced, and in just three years."

"For hardcore electronic entertainment …